Chemical Engineering
Providing Solutions to Pollution

The 'Air Car' is one of the most recent innovations to offer a solution to the pollution problem. It is a significant engineering achievement and relies on chemical engineering principals. This vehicle runs on pure air, which under compression powers the cars pistons; the exhaust fumes emitted are actually cleaner than the city atmosphere.

Chemical engineers made this innovation possible by developing the processes used and this is just one example of how the applications of chemical engineering have the potential to literally 'save the world'. In everything that chemical engineers do, attention to safety and protecting the environment is paramount.

A World of Opportunity

Chemical engineers are employed around the globe in a world-class, largely graduate profession. As a career, chemical engineering provides new and exciting opportunities for individual enterprise and career flexibility, with rapid progress to responsible and financially rewarding jobs (a typical graduate salary is in the region of £25,000). Chemical engineers are found in a wide range of industries. They are at the forefront of tomorrow's scientific and technological development, tackling some of the world's most urgent problems. They develop and create products that modern society depends on.

The products of chemical engineering are in every shop, office, factory and home in the world. Many of the companies employing chemical engineers are names which are globally recognised, such as Cadbury Schweppes, SmithKline Beecham, Proctor and Gamble, ICI, Esso and Unilever, to name but a few. Such global conglomorates offer exciting opportunities.

In addition to opportunities in large multinational companies, career opportunities also exist in small and medium sized businesses, which often provide technical services to the larger concerns or manufacture specialist products. For the more adventurous, there are opportunities to operate your own business as a consultant within a particular industry sector.

Bright people who are good communicators, motivated, able to work on their own or as a team and interested in a challenge are prime candidates to study chemical engineering at university. A good level of education with a strong scientific element, preferably including Maths and Chemistry, is required.

Universities usually hold lists of those qualifications from other countries that they find acceptable. Standards are usually the same for all students, and it is advisable therefore to contact either the International Office or the Admissions Tutor, as is appropriate (some universities may not have an International Office).

There are opportunities to include languages, management, and other more specific options such as Environmental Technology, Brewing and Distilling Technology, Energy Resource Engineering and Mineral Engineering as part of a Chemical Engineering degree.

People whose qualifications are not mainly in science need not despair - it may be possible for them to advance into Chemical Engineering by taking a one-year foundation course designed to equip them with the necessary basic scientific background prior to starting on a degree course. Courses and requirements vary, so it is always worth checking with the International Office or Admissions Tutor.

Completion of a degree accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and four or five years of industrial experience and training (possibly through a formal training program) can lead to Chartered Chemical. The designatory letters that this confers - MIChemE, and CEng - are the professional benchmarks for successful

Chemical Engineers.

Choosing Your Future

With the steady growth in worldwide demand for Chemical Engineers, a degree in Chemical Engineering provides the skills to open doors to the careers of the twenty-first century. Chemical Engineers have the multi-disciplinary skills that keep their options open. They are valued and well rewarded in many kinds of employment. But no matter where or how Chemical Engineers are employed there is always plenty of scope for ambition.

With the right skills, dedication and ambition, you could say the sky is the limit - but a Chemical Engineer has actually been into space!

Author: Dr Chris Welch, Course Director, MEng/BEng Aerospatial Engineering, Kingston Universty

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